


Got That Love Bug

by teaffie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Lee Jeno is a Panicked Gay, M/M, Na Jaemin is Whipped, Silicon Valley AU, Technobabble, There is a pretty saucy make-out scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:48:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24728503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaffie/pseuds/teaffie
Summary: “Dude, you look like someone starved a virgin to death”Jeno groans in response to Donghyuck’s comment. His tablemate isn’t completely wrong. Clad in his signature oversized hoodie and khakis combo with dark circles visible under his round frames, Jeno looks like he’s definitely seen some better days.
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 16
Kudos: 202
Collections: NOMIN FIC FEST





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 28\. For a project in IT industry, we need developer and a quality assurance staff. These two roles must works in sync to have a perfect result. People said if a developer want to hit on the QA, he will just pretend to not understand the customer’s requirements and bug the QA on-end.
> 
> Disclaimer: This is not what actual QA testing is like but for the sake of idiots in love, it is for them.

“Dude, you look like someone starved a virgin to death”

Jeno groans in response to Donghyuck’s comment. His tablemate isn’t completely wrong. Clad in his signature oversized hoodie and khakis combo with dark circles visible under his round frames, Jeno looks like he’s definitely seen some better days.

“Fuck off, this is all your fault,” Jeno retorts with no malice behind his words, regretting his decision to not use his sick days to recover from his hangover from hell. From the mind-numbing headache to his lower back, every fiber of his being feels sore. It also doesn’t help that the human embodiment of the Sun is next to him.

“Oh my dear, Jeno, how could you possibly blame me for indiscretions going out last night,” Donghyuck cackles, throwing his head back as if seeing Jeno like this is the funniest thing in world, “besides, you looked like you were very busy with someone on the dance floor. How was he by the way?”

“It was your birthday party which wasn’t even yesterday by the way,” Jeno murmurs, closing his eyes because maybe if he didn’t see Hyuck, he won’t have to explain himself. Before Hyuck can respond, he continues, “like, what kind of person celebrates his birthday for three days? How are you so… normal after inhaling all the alcohol?”

“It’s called having a business degree,” Hyuck snorts before pressing on. He’s not letting Jeno get off so easily, ”and you didn’t answer my question.”

Jeno can hear the grin forming on the latter’s face. There isn’t much about his “indiscretions” to talk about really. After losing Donghyuck to the crowd, Jeno just headed to the bar for a drink that wasn’t shots of tequila and that was when __he__ approached him. With a sigh, Jeno begins to recall what his night entailed.

“Hey, a guy as cute as you shouldn’t be standing here all alone.”

Jeno turned around, ready to tell the person he’s completely not interested, only to face who he can only describe as the hottest guy he’s ever seen. He had soft brown hair that made Jeno’s finger twitch wanting to run his hand through. The way his white button-up opened up just enough to reveal this toned chest, Jeno just couldn’t resist. Before he could utter a reply, the guy continued, “Can I get you a drink?”

“Uh, sure, yea, definitely,”, Jeno quickly uttered, realizing he’d been staring, ”I would love a drink.” Real smooth he thought.

He couldn’t remember exactly how it happened but, in their drunken haze, he recalled the heat of their bodies grinding together lost in the rhythm of the music blasting on the dance floor before the mystery man leaned to his ear and whispered.

“What do you say to take this somewhere a little more private?”

Shivers ran down his spine as Jeno felt the latter’s soft lips just barely touching his neck making their way up to his face before Jeno pulled him in for a searing kiss. It was sloppy and bitter from the alcohol but Jeno could care less. Their lips molded together; tongues intertwined as Jeno slid his fingers into his luscious locks. The scent of the man was intoxicating. Jeno felt like he was drowning. He wanted more – no, he needed more.

When they finally broke apart, Jeno was hyper focused on the pair of hands roaming his hips and he couldn’t help but let out a low moan against the neck of the man in front of him.

“If you keep this up, I don’t think we’ll make it out of here,” he growled into Jeno’s ears, gripping him even tighter, making Jeno’s knees weak. They need to go __now.__

“My place is around the corner,” Jeno impatiently blurted out as he clasps their hands together making a beeline for the exit.

“So, yea, uh, we headed back to my place and now I’m here,” Jeno concludes, a pink tint now kissing his cheeks, refusing to reveal more of what ensued at his place.

“I take back everything I said about you looking like a starved virgin,” Donghyuck gapes at his friend, “you’re just starved.”

“I hate you,” Jeno says, shooting the meanest glare he can muster at the moment.

“So, what happened this morning?” Donghyuck presses on, not acknowledging the comment.

“Nothing happened really,” Jeno replies, turning to see the confused look on Hyuck’s face.

“What the fuck do you mean nothing happened?” Hyuck responds in disbelief, hand nudging down the fabric of Jeno’s hoodie revealing splotches of reddish marks sprinkled underneath his collar, ”Something obviously happened.”

Jeno slaps his hand away from this hoodie swearing under his breath, how the __fuck__ did he spot those so well. Sheepishly he answers, ”Well, by the time my alarm went off, he was gone. I don’t know he probably left because, you know, he probably thought it was just a hook-up.”

“Well, do you know who he is at least?”

Jeno vaguely recalls that they didn’t do much talking stumbling their way to his apartment and into his bedroom. They had other priorities.

“We were a little preoccupied with other things. I didn’t get his name.” Jeno laughing nervously as Hyuck’s eyes widen at his statement. It wasn’t the ending to a night that Jeno expected but he’s an adult now. One-night stands and drunken hook ups aren’t new to him or Hyuck but Jeno was never the one to do these sorts of things. Whatever, life happens in weird, horny ways and he has a massive hangover to tell the tale.

“Oh my, Jeno, how salacious of you,” his tablemate teases, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Before he has a chance to respond, they were interrupted by Doyoung, “Hate to break up this little conversation but we have a meeting to go to now.”

“Fuck, that’s right,” Donghyuck groans, getting up and walking towards their conference room without waiting for the other two, “there better be coffee.”

Jeno begins to gather the files he needs for the meeting, “I’ll see you in there. I just need to find my notes.”

Doyoung nods and begins to head for the meeting but quickly turns around, teasing grin growing on his face, to add, “I didn’t think you could be so scandalous, Jeno. Oh, to be young again.”

“You’re only 28,” Jeno shouts back, rolling his eyes, finally heading towards the elder’s direction. He could use a day off 

The conference room was packed, meaning that there is another project on the horizons of Neo Culture Technology. NCT is a small company, a startup, as people would call them, starting out in the dinning of the shared house of their executives with Johnny front and center as CEO, Jaehyun in charge of marketing, Doyoung heading their technology department, and with Yuta holding the company’s financials by balls.

Jeno never planned on working in the tech industry. He actually wanted to be an architect. He likes the idea of building vast towering skylines spanning beyond what the eye can see but reality unfortunately struck in his second semester of college. After roughing it in the studio and a near disaster with a utility knife and failing his design history class, all he wanted to do was sit in front of his computer where there were no sharp edges and the world at his fingertips.

It wasn’t until his ever so wonderful roommate at the time and self-proclaimed best friend, Donghyuck, suggested Jeno to talk to his brother, Johnny and his friend, Doyoung about a job “typing shit in until something breaks” – quality assurance, Doyoung laments to this day about Hyuck’s blatant butchering of a respectable job. Jeno was sold. He spent that Summer as “Quality Assurance Intern” at NCT, which was exactly what his roommate pitched until it wasn’t just that. By the following semester, he switched to computer science and hasn’t looked back since. After years getting paid in class credits and “lesson that will last a lifetime”— thanks, he was offered a full-time position in the burgeoning company after graduation.

Since their humble beginnings working out of their dining room and garage, the data compression algorithm they created gave enough them inertia to eventually expand to a real office with air conditioning with Donghyuck and others eventually joining the team to the relief of Jeno’s parents that their son was no longer getting paid by pizza for each bug he found working for a bunch graduate students.

“Alright, everyone. Thank you for coming to today’s meeting,” Johnny starts, breaking Jeno out of his thoughts.

“It’s not like we had a choice,” Ten snickers.

Johnny shoots him a pointed look before continuing, “As you all, or at least those who read the email sent out, we’re here today to welcome the newest member to our team.”

“Well, where is he?” Kunhang questions as everyone scans the room for a new face to no avail.

“They’ll be here so-,“ Johnny responds as the door swings opens to Dejun, NCT’s recruiting and hiring manager, stumbling in, “ah, perfect timing. The floor is all yours, Dejun.”

Johnny returns to his seat next to Jaehyun as Dejun begins, “Thanks, Johnny. So, as we are expanding NCT’s scope before CES, we have hired another developer to join us on our journey.”

Dejun heads towards the door and pauses as his hand lays on the doorknob, the room silent in anticipation. Dejun has always had a flair for the dramatic.

“Please welcome to Neo Culture Technology, Na Jaemin,” Dejun announces to the room.

No fucking way.

Jeno feels as if time just stopped and memories of last night come rushing through his mind, remembering the feeling of Jaemin’s hands holding him down, pushing Jeno to the edge, peppering kisses and bites all over his body. It might be his hungover brain speaking but this has to be a prank. Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he begins typing furiously, catching Donghyuck’s attention. Catching the worried looking, Jeno signals him to check his phone.

****Jen:** **

Holy fuck

Dude

That’s him

That’s the fucking guy from last night

What the fuck do they mean he’s the new hire

Donghyuck couldn’t help but snort at Jeno’s frantic messages coming in one after the other, drawing attention from the rest of the room. Jeno groans into his hand as he can feel eyes on him.

“Is something there something funny you’d like to share with the rest of us?”

“Jeno dropped his phone. It was absolutely hilarious,” Hyuck retorts without missing a beat, shifting all of the attention to Jeno. He really should have stayed home today.

“Sorry, it won’t happen again,” Jeno utters, finally raising his head, meeting Jaemin’s eyes for the first time. He can see the recognition flash through the latter’s eyes. God, he just wants to crawl under the table and dissipate into the floor. Before he can act on it, Dejun interjects with his final comment.

“Okay, without any further delays, hopefully, I’ll let Jaemin introduce himself in his own words”

“Uh, hello, everyone. I’m Na Jaemin and I’m very excited you work with each and every one of you,” Jaemin greets, turning his head towards Jeno again, ”and I can’t wait to show you what I have to offer.”

Jaemin makes his way to the empty chair next to Dejun and Jeno feels like he can finally breathe again. There is still a part of him that believes this is still one big fucking joke because out of all the developers saturating the area, Na Jaemin, the hot stranger, the man who fucked the living daylights out of him just a few hours prior, is the one that his company hired. The world is small indeed.

“Thank you, Jaemin. Again, welcome to the team. You can have a seat now,” Johnny says? returning to the front,” as you all know CES is just six months away and we’re lucky enough to be given the honor of presenting NCT’s newest feature, an in-app cloud storage platform. Though six months doesn’t seem like much time, I strongly believe that we are absolutely fully capable, as one Mark Lee has stated.”

The last statement earns a groan from Mark in the crowd, ”Thanks for the pep talk, Dad. Can we go now? We gotta set the sprint goals for the next few weeks so was that all you have for us?”

“One day, when you guys are trapped in the cruel, cold hands of big tech, you’ll yearn for my motivational speeches,” Johnny pouts,” I will do nothing but laugh.”

“Not a chance,” Jaehyun comments, causing the room to erupt in laughter. That was the nice thing about working here, what they’re doing isn’t the sexiest job in the world, well, maybe for marketing, but they’re comfortable with each other, they’re a family. Even when they’re serious, they’re not. Jeno couldn’t help but feel warmth in his chest from the thought of that or that could be the hangover hot flashes talking. He can’t tell what’s real anymore.

“Anyways, that's all for today, thanks for coming everyone,” Johnny concludes, ready for this to end himself,” we’re veggie and protein bowls for lunch today, by the way.”

“Dude, again?”

“Can we have pizza for once?”

“You are all children who don’t wouldn't know what healthy food is if it slapped you in the face. Consider this a privilege,” Jungwoo bites back, clearly not having it with the blatant slander of his choice of catering. Jeno can’t complain. It’s better than anything he could make and it’s free; he shouldn’t be biting the hands that feed him. Literally, Jungwoo has tried, many times, feed him while he was busy finishing work before sprint deadlines. The sounds of their office manager’s spoon choo choo train haunts him in his dreams at night.

“Hey, Jeno!” Mark shouts, running towards the younger. Broad smile on his face, he must be ecstatic to have another person to handle cloud with him. The poor guy looks like he hasn’t slept since the app launched. “we’re gonna all eat lunch together to help Jaemin settle in. You should join us.”

God, Mark’s eyes seem positively gleaming with joy. How could Jeno possibly say no a face like that?

“Sorry, dude, I’m not feeling very well and I’m pretty behind with documenting the test cases for Jisung. I think I’m gonna sit this one out.”

That’s how.

Jeno feels kind of bad seeing Mark’s eyebrows furrow and smile sag to a slight frown. It’s kicking a puppy, a cardinal sin ** **.**** It’s okay he’ll repent and make it up to him once he gets his head out of his ass.

“Aw, okay. I’ll see you later then. Feel better,” Mark says, turning around to walk back to his workstation. At least he bought himself some more time before having to deal with this.

By the time Jeno gets back to his workstation, Hyuck is already there waiting for him. He can tell Hyuck is waiting for him because his monitor isn’t turned on. It’s almost sweet if Jeno didn't know what was about to happen.

“That sure was a twist ** **.**** M. Night Shyamalan could never,” Hyuck teases.

Jeno ignores him and slides into his chair, turning everything on around him, the hum of his monitors and computer coming to life bringing him back to Earth.

“So, what are you gonna do?”

Jeno thinks for a minute, ”I don’t know, quit my job?” Maybe that’s a little dramatic but the one thing Jeno hates more than when Hyuck steals his kills playing video games is confrontation. He would much rather sweep all this under the rug and pretend that everything this is okay. Out of sight out of mind, right?

“You’re so dramatic,” his friend hums, amusement dripping from his voice. He’s not wrong. This situation isn’t the end of the world but it sure as hell is awkward. Jeno’s never really had to deal with this kind of stuff. Maybe he’s overthinking it and that Jaemin actually doesn’t give to shits, that this is just his pea brain not able to process human emotions. He is a slave to an algorithm after all.

“What the fuck do I do then?”

“Uh, I don’t know dude like, talk to him?” Hyuck shoots him an incredulous look.

“Easy for you to say,” Jeno mummers under his hoodie. Jaemin left without saying anything so maybe that was how he wanted things to be. Unspoken.

“You can’t avoid him forever; we literally have a meeting together tomorrow.”

“I can sure try.”

Out of sight.

Out of mind.

Jeno manages to himself busy for the remainder of the day finishing his test cases and even getting to Jisung to bring him lunch to his desk, with the reward of joining him to update firmware on the laptops in storage– naptime, as he also calls it.

He was doing so well avoiding Jaemin, if he could say so himself, when he heard a knock on the door. Scanning the room, he realizes Jisung wasn’t sleeping next to the servers like he was before; he probably left to go find Chenle. Those were always plotting something.

“It’s open,” Jeno calls out without sparing a second glance. ”Did you need something?”

“Doyoung told me I needed to get a laptop from here?”

Jeno’s blood went cold; that voice isn’t just anyone’s. How could he forget; it’s Jaemin’s first day, of course he needs new equipment.

“Uh, yea, of course, uh yea just stay right there. I’ll be right back with your stuff,” Jeno frantically utters, trying his best not to face Jaemin. After fumbling through the cabinets, he manages to regain his composure walking back to the desk, Jaemin now sitting on the chair next to the one he was occupying. ”Here we go, I just need to add your credentials. It’ll only take a minute.”

“That’s okay. Take your time,” Jaemin responds, his deep voice sending chills vibrating down Jeno’s spine.

Jeno, unable to say anything else, nods and settles back into his seat, opening the case and turning the laptop on at record speeds. The faster he does this, the faster this will all be over he repeats to himself. He can feel the latter’s eyes fixated on his side, refusing to acknowledge it, he continues on, ”I-“

“So, are we not gonna talk about the ‘we slept together’ elephantin the room? ” Jaemin interrupts, catching Jeno off guard. He can feel his cheeks burning. Oh my god, why is he so forward?

Jeno snorts frozen in shock. Maybe if he didn’t doesn’t move, Jaemin won’t see him.

“I don’t know what to say,” he mumbles, incapable of forming words out of the millions of thoughts running through his mind at the moment.

“We kind started off on the wrong foot today,” Jaemin spins his chair so his body is now facing Jeno, ”I should have said something earlier. Sorry about that.”

Jeno doesn’t understand why he’s apologizing. It was just a hook-up. It’s not like any of them knew they’d be working together. He shakes his head.

“It’s okay. I understand,” Jeno turns to finally face Jaemin, gripping on to the laptop harder than he should.

“Wait, I-,” Jaemin tries to respond but before he could start, Jeno shoves the laptop back into the case and onto the other’s arms.

The door of the room swings open revealing Jisung, drinks in hand, and Chenle peaking over his shoulders.

“Sorry, I went on a coffee run with Chenle and you were so focused I didn’t want to disturb you. I got you something though,” Jisung apologizes, pausing to absorb the sight in front of him,” am I interrupting something?”

“No, we’re just wrapping up.” Jeno has never been so thankful for his intern as he is now, ”anyways, Jaemin, just log into the laptop with your user and password and you should be set to go. Thank you.”

“Uh, okay. Thanks, I’ll do that,” Jaemin tucks the laptop under his arm, dumbstruck by what’s happening and makes his way to the door, “I’ll see you around.”

When the door closes, Jeno sinks further into his chair with absolute relief. He dodged that one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~  
> [twt ](https://twitter.com/oisuhdude) | [cc ](https://curiouscat.me/Scratchcake)
> 
> Special thanks to Vic for holding my hand through this. 
> 
> If you like this, check out Silicon Valley. It's a hilarious show.


	2. Chapter 2

Ever since the storage room incident, Jeno has managed to keep his head down and avoid further interactions with Jaemin, but that only lasted about a week considering the two are working on this project together.

“Hey, Jeno?” 

Jeno stiffens in his seat. He recognizes that voice from anywhere. Jeno swears he already sent Jaemin his bug reports for the day. Did he forget something? Jeno glaces up from his desk seeing Jaemin approaching, laptop in hand. 

“What’s up?”

“I read your report and I was wondering if you have some time to go over it with me.”

“Uh, sure,” Jeno spins his chair around to face Jaemin, now leaning against his table, “did I miss something?”

“Oh no,” Jaemin quickly affirms, “I just- well, there were some things that I don’t quite get and just need to review with you.”

“Alright,” Jeno replies, hesitant about the idea of having to spend more time alone with Jaemin but he quickly brushes the thought out of the way. It’s just work, nothing more, “I just have to meet with Jisung and I should be free after that. When’s the best time for you?”

“Anytime with you is- I mean anytime works. Though I was thinking,” Jaemin leans closer towards the other, “maybe we can do this over lunch? So I don’t get the way of your work.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.” 

“I insist,” Jaemin smirks before continuing, “the pleasure is all mine.”

“Okay then,” Jeno replies sheepishly, ”that sounds like a plan.”

“Perfect. I’ll come by again so we can go together.” 

And just like that, Jaemin heads back to his area leaving Jeno dumbstruck about what just happened. Feeling the flush slowly burning its way up his neck and the shit eating grin forming on Donghyuck’s face, Jeno groans into his hand.

“Not a single word.”

“I didn’t even say anything yet,” Donghyuck retorts, eyes shining and grin so bright, he’s only seen his best friend like this when he’s messing with the screws on Mark’s chair. 

“I can feel you itching to make a comment,” Jeno murmurs, preparing documents for Jisung to review. It’s just a lunch meeting between two professionals about the project they’re working on. 

Lunch comes before Jeno realizes it. Making sure Jisung doesn’t break the printer scanning documents kept him more occupied than he could have imagined. That kid has an uncanny knack for destroying everything he touches but that’s exactly what Jeno needs in a tester. 

Jeno was reviewing his previous reports, so he doesn’t make a fool out of himself, when a box is placed in front of him. 

“A little bird told me that you have an affinity for the catering brownies but I quote ‘doesn’t have the time management to ever make it before they all disappear’,” Jaemin announces, placing a napkin wrapped piece on top of the box, “so I got down there before the rest could get their grubby hands on them.”

“Oh my god,” Jeno whispers, delicately unraveling the brownie before unceremoniously shoving the entire square into his mouth. It’s gross and he knows that’s not how people normally eat brownies but to hell with it. This isn’t a normal brownie. It’s a lunch brownie made with love and flakey salt and Jeno is a sucker for that fancy shit. The best part is that he didn’t even leave his seat. 

“I’m gonna assume that you like it?” Jaemin snickers, surprised at the scene unravelling right before his very eyes.

“Fuck, it’s so good,” Jeno moans, eyes closed blissfully unaware of how obscene he looks in from of the brunette standing next him in. 

“I gotta do this more often if that’s how you’re gonna react,” Jaemin teases.

Jeno flushes, his actions finally seeping in when he swallows the final bite of the baked treat. 

“Sorry you had to see that,” the tester says, trying to divert the developer’s attention back to what this meeting was for, ”do you just want to eat here? It’s probably easier since I can pull up my reports.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Jaemin settles in the seat beside him and they start reviewing the documentation. Turns out, Jaemin just misread a page and it wasn’t anything serious. With the bug problem solved faster than he expected, Jeno finds himself without anything else to talk about and the silence is deafening. 

”You’re one hard guy to get a hold of, Lee Jeno,” the developer muses with no bite to his words, “one would think you’re hiding from something.”

“Ha, yea,” the tester meekly utters, scratching the back of his head. He was hiding from something. Well, someone and he did a horrible job considering that said person is beside him. “Doyoung had me up the ass with paperwork before the last patch went live.”

“Interesting choices of words there,” Jaemin snickers, eyes twinkling in the light. He looks even better during the day. It’s not fair.

“...”

“...”

“So, little bird huh?” Jeno inquires with a hint of amusement, trying his best to dispel the awkwardness.

“Yea, you know,” Jaemin responds, unable to meet his eyes, “I’m by a window and the bird was just so eager to educate me about you.”

“Does this little bird have a name?” Jeno persists, now completely facing Jaemin.

“I don’t just listen and tell, Jeno,” Jaemin retorts, smirk forming on his lips and he continues, “it would be unethical to reveal the identity of my source.”

Jeno knows gossip in this office spreads faster than Mono in his freshman dorm and there could be only one person responsible.

“It was Donghyuck wasn’t it?”

“Renjun, actually.”

“That fucker,” Jeno groans.

Of fucking course it’s Renjun. Hyuck most likely told the HR head about Jaemin over brunch or some shit like that. They are probably laughing their asses off right now so proud of their handy work. One day, he’ll get his revenge and it will taste like his sweet, sweet lunch brownie.

The tension between the two seems to just melt away the more they spoke. Jaemin tells Jeno about how he ended up at NCT fresh out of his Masters program. 

“Turns out, he wasn’t the professor after all,” Jaemin concludes, chuckling at the memory. 

“I can’t believe Dejun did that,” Jeno joins in on the laughter. 

It wasn’t much longer until people started filing back to their workstations and Donghyuck and Taeil’s booming laughter echoes through through the hall bringing the two back to reality. 

“Well, I guess it’s time I head back to my spot,” Jaemin announces with a tone he can’t seem to put his finger on. 

“Right,” Jeno couldn’t shake off the disappointment tugging at him wishing their meeting was a little longer, “thanks, by the way. For lunch and the brownie. It was great.”

“I should be thanking you for helping me. I wouldn’t mind meetings if they were half as fun as you,” the developer rebuts, gathering his belongings on the table and heading back to his area, “I hope we can do this again, Jeno.”

And to his words, they did do it again. No like actually do it. Jaemin never brought up that night since the storage room so Jeno is going to take that as the latter being no longer interested in pursuing that realm with him. He still doesn’t know if he’s very happy about that.

Little lunch meetings at their desks become daily coffee runs when they could find the time. Not that Jeno has marked off the hour they just so happen to go on these said runs as busy in calendar or anything. Jeno finds himself looking forward to these little breaks, though he does find Jaemin’s caffeine intake to be repulsive and a little concerning.

And somewhere along the way, Donghyuck and Renjun adopted Jaemin into their little group. It was like finding a missing puzzle piece. Jaemin just fit in as if he’d known them since childhood. He knows about Jeno’s stint as a college mathlete despite hating math and Jeno learns that latter has an eye for photography. There was nothing left hidden between them. Well, almost nothing but Jeno knows that he can’t have it all. He’ll take whatever Jaemin offers if it means being with the developer.

“There’s no way your stomach isn’t fucked by that monstrosity you’re drinking.”

Jeno grimaces staring at the latter happily sipping on his drink. There is enough bitterness and caffeine in that cup to fuel everyone in the office. They don’t have much time left before they have to head back to their work but anytime outside is enough considering their final sprint is next week. 

“It’s only a minor consequence for sweet, sweet relief,” Jaemin sighs, throwing his head back basking in the fresh air. He looks good like this with bits of sunlight peeking through the shade dotting his face. He looks positively ethereal in Jeno’s eyes. 

Jeno snickers at Jaemin’s response. There was no stopping him and his caffeine fix Jeno was only a mere mortal after all. 

“Do you think Doyoung would be mad if we just made a break for it? I think Mark is more than capable of holding the fort down,” Jaemin muses.

“It’s actually impossible for him to get mad at me,” Jeno responds jokingly, now facing the latter. “He says I’m too cute for that.”

“Well, he’s not wrong,” Jaemin retorts, causing Jeno’s face to heat up at the compliment.

The two remained silent, side by side on the bench for a moment, meeting each other’s eyes. 

There is something about how the sun shines through Jaemin that just makes Jeno’s heart skip a beat. He can’t look away. Before the two realize it, they’re faces are inches away from each other. Leaning in closer, Jeno thinks this might be it. Maybe Jaemin likes him too. 

Jeno could almost feel their lips touching when he hears his phone ringing breaking them out of their haze. He stops himself from groaning, they were so close. He checks to see who had the audacity to call Jeno while he’s in a meeting.

“What’s up, Hyuck,” Jeno asks, disappointed in what could have been. 

“The printer broke while you were gone on your little date,” Donghyuck notifies, “Jisung has been trying to get a hold of you for like a half an hour now.”

“Okay, tell Jisung I’m on my way back now,” Jeno groans, “Tell him to not touch anything until I’m back.”

Hanging up, he shoots an apologetic look at Jaemin and the latter simply shrugs.

“Guess we have to head back” Jeno surmises, wishing Hyuck called just a little bit later. ”Uh, so about what just happened. I- uh-”

“It’s nothing, ” Jaemin quickly reassures, “It’s okay.”

It’s nothing. 

Jeno’s heart drops hearing those two words. What was he thinking anyways? Jaemin is his colleague and friend. This can’t possibly end well for them. Maybe it was meant to be this way.

The walk back wasn’t as awkward as Jeno imagined. The two joked about Jisung’s uncanny skill for destruction. Jeno recalls the intern’s first day at NCT and how he managed to jam the coffee machine leading to Jungwoo replacing it with the espresso machine they have now. 

“It’s actually kind of a blessing,” Jeno says teasingly to the developer, “the new machine dispenses lattes now which is a win.”

By the time they returned, Jisung was sitting by Donghyuck nervously twirling his thumbs. Jeno sighs and the pair march over towards the workstation.

“Well, I gotta head back to see where Mark is with the patch,” Jaemin bids his farewell towards the former. “See you, Jeno”

“Yea, I’ll see you around,” Jeno says, his smile not reaching his eyes. He totally blew it.

After rerouting the network printers, Jeno lets out a loud groan plopping down on his seat earning a questionable look from Donghyuck.

“Trouble in paradise?” 

“Shut up, it’s nothing,” Jeno laments, his head not leaving his hands. His chest feels tight. He can’t tell if it was the coffee or if it was his hopes and dreams getting crushed.

“It’s not nothing if you’re acting like this,” Donghyuck responds, sounding slightly concerned.

“We almost kissed before you called,” Jeno murmurs through his hands, embarrassed to say what happened out loud. 

“Oh no, you poor baby,” Hyuck coos, “I’m sorry I cockblocked you. I’ll be sure to call you a few minutes after I plan on calling you next time.”

“Am I a joke to you?” Jeno finally puts his head up to shoot Hyuck with an unimpressed look.

“Everything is,” Hyuck begins, “It’s my coping mechanism.”

Before Jeno can respond, Donghyuck continues on, “Unhealthy, I know but that’s what keeps me going.”

“Unbelievable,” Jeno scoffs with no malice in tone. 

“So, what are you gonna do now?”

“Nothing. Jaemin said it was nothing,” Jeno laments, those words echoing in his brain.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that,” Donghyuvk tries to reassure the former, “It doesn’t hurt to talk to him about it, you know.”

“I’m pretty sure he meant what he said,” Jeno retorts, he was a fool for thinking he was more than just a one night stand, “besides, it’s not appropriate now that we work together.”

“Oh cut the bullshit, Jeno,” Donghyuck now exasperated at Jeno’s excuses. “You do realize no one gives a rats ass if you two got together right?”

“What are you even saying?” 

“I’m saying you need to get your head out of your ass and just fess up already,” Donghyuck stares at the former. “You look like a kicked puppy. Just talk to him. Outside of whatever little arrangement you guys have.”

“Whatever,” Jeno murmurs. “How do you even know what a kicked puppy looks like?”

“Just do it.”

And that’s exactly what Jeno didn’t do. It’s been a week since the incident– or as Donghyuck calls it, “Jaemin and Jeno sitting in a tree. Almost K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” He managed to avoid the office all together for the rest of that week using saying that his cat was sick and that he needed to work from home until Bongshik gets better. 

This was bullshit because Bongshik is back at home with his parents and Seol and Nal since his apartment doesn’t allow pets but Renjun doesn’t know that yet. He also trained Jisung enough to pass him the torch of sending his reports to Jaemin, getting the intern to do his bidding for him. With every text and call, Jeno kept on making excuse after excuse on why he can’t talk. It somehow worked until their final sprint deadline reared its ugly head. The end is nigh he thinks.

It’s late and the deadline for this sprint is just a few days away. Jeno is trying every script in the damn book to figure out why the connection drops when he tries to import the data from the directory into the cloud. Nothing seems to work but it seems to be just him. When Jisung does it, everything goes smoothly. 

Bulk import: successful.

It’s like it’s mocking him.

He feels like he’s suffocating. One bug fixed and ten more rear their heads from the woodwork. This is his job, to find the problems but with this one, he can’t even get far enough to get there. He’s had enough. It’s late, he’s hungry and tired, and he feels guilty that Jisung is stuck here to tie up his loose ends for him because of his own incompetence.

“Fuck this. I can’t do this anymore,” Jeno groans, furiously typing on his computer, so focused he didn’t even notice Jisung trying to ask what he’s doing.

Reported by: Jeno Lee 

Date: Wed, 5 Sept 2020 14:24:01 UTC

Tags: upstream

Version: neozone/1.2-7

Severity: SERIOUS

Hi,

Due to my inability to get shit to work, I have been unable to concentrate on executing the final load test.

Since I can’t even get the cloud servers to respond to the API. This creates a large problem since I’m the one that has to keep all these bugs under control.

Without being able to connect to this god forsaken cloud means no load test. No load test means the sprint goal isn’t met. If the goal isn’t met, we’re not going to be able to roll out the updates. Meaning we’re gonna lose this office and my salary is going to be Costco pizza again

Reproducibility: Often

Expected Results: A connection

Current Results: No connection. Not one at all. Not even a Jeno, I think you’re something do you want to go on a date? NO NOTHING BECAUSE I CAN’T CONNECT.

I hope someone in DevOps can help me out with this problem and put me out of my misery

Thank you and I apologize for the inconvenience

Clicking send Jeno slumps further into his chair, maybe he just needs to do some diagnostics on his workstation. With a tired sigh, he runs a system diagnostic and closes his eyes. It’ll only take a few minutes.

“Jeno”

“Just five more minutes.”

“Jeno, wake up.”

He instantly recognizes that voice and shoots up. What is Jaemin doing here so late? How long was he out for?

“What are you doing here?” Jeno asks, eyes still trying to refocus from the post-nap haze.

“I saw your bug report and came here as fast as I could,” Jaemin pants, pulling a chair out and settling next to him. “I think I have some explaining to do.”

“What do you mean?”

Jaemin remains silent and gestures to Jeno to look at what’s on his monitor. Confused Jeno turns and sees that his diagnostic test is complete with one notification.

Virus Removal Tool

1 threat found

Threat name: Trojan-LB.VBS.Half

Risk level: Critical

Description: Our connection seems to be lost. This is a VBScript-virus. It steals the user's heart. Jeno please talk to me. -Jaemin 

“Jaemin, what is this,” Jeno mummers, slowly turning to face the man who installed a fucking virus on his computer to steal his… Heart?

“I think it’s pretty obvious what it is,” Jaemin chuckles, bright amused eyes meeting Jeno’s confused one, ”I felt like you’ve been so distant lately and I don’t know why.”

“I’m sorry,” Jeno replies, looking down at his hands. It’s easier that way. Jeno was getting too comfortable, too close. He couldn’t let himself get lost in his stupid little crush. Jaemin would never like someone like him back. He left so abruptly that night so why would he want to stay now?

“Jeno, please look at me,” Jaemin pleads, placing his hands on top of Jeno's, the latter still refusing to meet his eyes, “I thought I was being too obvious but you’re as clueless as everyone says.”

Before Jeno has a chance to say anything, Jaemin continues on, ”I like you, like a lot.”

“Wha- You do?” Jeno stutters out,

Jeno couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He feels like his heart is going to beat out of his chest.

“Of course, I do. You drink coffee out of an ‘Integration Bee Winner’ mug and write please and thank you in your reports even though you are mad. I knew I was a goner for you.”

“Oh, really?” Jeno squeaks out, his cheeks feel like they’re on fire, ”I really like you, too.”

“Well, that’s a relief. In that case, Jeno, I think you’re really something. Would you bestow me the honors of taking you on a date,” Jaemin chuckles, removing his hands from Jeno’s lap to caress the other’s face, ”and can I kiss you, too?”

Jeno nods moving his body closer and closer until their lips hovered just above the other. It was like Jeno was on cloud nine. Jaemin’s lips are soft, teasing him, eagerly trying to take him in. Transfixed by the feeling of Jaemin’s arms wrapped around him and the taste of coffee lingering on Jaemin’s mouth, as if he’s under a spell, as if kissing him was the only thing he knows. Jeno doesn’t want to let go but the air is growing thinner by the second.

When they break apart, Jeno meets Jaemin’s blown out eyes, twinkling back at him.

“Was the virus really necessary though?”

“Was that overkill? Sorry, I figured I’d try something different since every time I tried to talk to you, you would just run in the opposite direction.”

Jeno couldn’t contain his laugh, “Sorry about that, I’m not very good at this kind of stuff.”

Jaemin’s lips crack into a wide smile that makes his heart soar.

“It’s okay. You’re amazing the way you are”

“Oh my god, you’re so greasy. I still have to finish this load test now that I know what’s wrong,” Jeno groans in embarrassment, completely forgetting about his original task at hand.

“Don’t worry I had Jisung run it while you were asleep. Jisung’s getting pretty good at your job these days. I would be worried if I were you,” Jaemin teases, pulling him in for a quick kiss. Jeno only hums in agreement. He’s not wrong there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was all she wrote...
> 
> Thank you for everyone who has supported me through this fic. Especially Vic for being the best beta and motivator ever. I was pretty tilited for a while but everyone's kind words pushed me through it. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this little fic 
> 
> ~  
> [twt ](https://twitter.com/oisuhdude) | [cc ](https://curiouscat.me/Scratchcake)

**Author's Note:**

> ~  
> [twt ](https://twitter.com/oisuhdude) | [cc ](https://curiouscat.me/Scratchcake)
> 
> Special thanks to Vic for holding my hand through this. 
> 
> If you like this, check out Silicon Valley. It's a hilarious show.


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